ACE Rolls Out New Buddy Plan and Schedule Change

The Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) provides fast, convenient rail service from San Joaquin County to Pleasanton. If ACE is your means of transportation, you will want to know about ACE’s new train service and special rider program.

ACE’s new service for Hacienda employees and residents began in January 2003. Under the new schedule, new service times were created to meet the needs of those working in the Tri-Valley. The new arrival times in Pleasanton from the San Joaquin Valley are 5:39 am, 6:44 am, 7:55 am and the new departure times from Pleasanton in the evening are 4:16 pm, 5:11 pm, and 6:21 pm. For your convenience, WHEELS buses meet each incoming train and transport tenants and residents throughout Hacienda as well as from the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station to and from ACE. WHEELS passes are provided to park tenants and residents free of charge and are valid as long as you are a tenant or resident of Hacienda. WHEELS Passes can be ordered online at www.hacienda.org/materials/materials_commute_pass.html for delivery within the park.

ACE is also sponsoring a new promotion called the ACE Buddy Plan. Under this new program, current riders can save money by referring a potential rider to ACE for a free five-day trial pass. If your friend likes the service, they are eligible to buy one monthly pass at 50% off. When they purchase their discounted pass, you will receive a certificate for 50% off a monthly pass just for referring them. “We also have another program where if you buy your January through November passes, you get your December pass for free,” says Laura Farley, ticketing coordinator for ACE. “So, feasibly, a rider could get 50% off every month by getting people to ride the train, and still get their twelfth month for free.”

In the case of companies that want to sign up for the new Buddy Plan, ACE will be flexible about the referral by a current rider. “If a company has new employees that are interested, we’ll give them the free week to try and then give them the 50% to apply,” Farley says.

Details on the Buddy program are available on the ACE web site at www.acerail.com or from Laura Farley at (209) 468-5099.